“Under this irresponsible proposal, outdated, thin-walled tanker cars will be hauling explosive crude oil through our cities for up to another five years,” said Jared Margolis, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity who focuses on energy and endangered species issues. “These rules just don’t do enough to protect people or wildlife from the continued use of tank cars that are clearly not safe. More must be done to prevent fiery derailments and spills that will continue to endanger Americans in their homes and wild animals and ecosystem along busy rail corridors. It’s unfortunate that the Obama administration has chosen the slow track to reforming this dangerous and largely unregulated explosion in crude oil shipments by rail.”

“The only reasonable way to handle this ongoing safety debacle is for federal regulators to enforce an immediate moratorium on crude-by-rail shipments until they can update spill-response plans and get safer tanker cars on the tracks,” said Margolis. “Anything less is a reckless attempt to keep oil-industry profits soaring at the expense of our safety and the health of our environment.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 775,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.